I'm hoping to get back into the pool after having a weekend off fighting a cold... ugh. I've had 7 workouts so far. and feel a good improvement in my lung capacity. (still crappy...but better). After reading the boards I've come up with a few questions.
Free-
After a blocks start is everyone now doing a dolphin kick?
***-
Things have changed so much in *** since I swam in the early 80's that I feel like i'm almost not doing the same stroke. When I learned you couldn't have water over your head and now it seems like everyone dips their head under the water. Was this a change in the mid 80's?
Also when shoudl I be kicking on ***? What is the rhythm?
What are the rules now for wall turns?
What are the rules now for # of kicks after a start/wall turn?
Sorry these are basica ?'s but i'm going to swim in competition in a month and don't want to get DQ'd....
Thank you!
For breaststroke the rule was changed in 1986 to allow the head to go underwater.The rule is now that the head must break the surface every stroke.The 86 rule change also clarified that the hands (but not the elbows) could be recovered over the surface.Breaststroke is the only stroke where it is defined that you must start with a pull followed by a kick.The simplicity of this got all tangled up with the 2005 rule change allowing one downward dolphin kick followed by a breaststroke kick during the pullout after the pulldown is initiated.Initiated is defined as the hands being separated so that you can do-pushoff,separate hands,dolphin kick,pulldown,breaststroke kick.If you want to make sure you don't get DQd however I'd recommend doing the dolphin kick during the last 1/2 of the pulldown.For the actual stroke you want to initiate recovering your legs as you begin your insweep of the arms and begin the kick as you shoot your hands forward,but get into streamline by the power part of the kick to"ride the glide".Also, if you learned the flat breaststroke you will need to relearn the recovery of the legs.Instead of bending at the hips and raising the thighs you should recover by bending your knees only.At the end of the recovery,just before the kick you can bend slightly at the hips to raise you thighs to add power to the kick,but this is breaking streamline and must be done quickly.
For breaststroke the rule was changed in 1986 to allow the head to go underwater.The rule is now that the head must break the surface every stroke.The 86 rule change also clarified that the hands (but not the elbows) could be recovered over the surface.Breaststroke is the only stroke where it is defined that you must start with a pull followed by a kick.The simplicity of this got all tangled up with the 2005 rule change allowing one downward dolphin kick followed by a breaststroke kick during the pullout after the pulldown is initiated.Initiated is defined as the hands being separated so that you can do-pushoff,separate hands,dolphin kick,pulldown,breaststroke kick.If you want to make sure you don't get DQd however I'd recommend doing the dolphin kick during the last 1/2 of the pulldown.For the actual stroke you want to initiate recovering your legs as you begin your insweep of the arms and begin the kick as you shoot your hands forward,but get into streamline by the power part of the kick to"ride the glide".Also, if you learned the flat breaststroke you will need to relearn the recovery of the legs.Instead of bending at the hips and raising the thighs you should recover by bending your knees only.At the end of the recovery,just before the kick you can bend slightly at the hips to raise you thighs to add power to the kick,but this is breaking streamline and must be done quickly.
